The first reply from a mentor is easy to get if the letter or the ask was good, the second reply is the hard one. Most people lose the second reply by writing back too soon and asking for more before they have used what they got. Larry’s rule is closer to Test than to Ask, show them what you did with their answer before you request another one.
A second message that says ‘here is what happened when I tried your suggestion’ earns a reply almost every time. A second message that just repeats the first ask, with more enthusiasm, usually goes to the bottom of the inbox. This is PQRST again, just running a second lap: you took their answer, tested it, and now you are summarizing the result back to them.
Karma matters here too, the second reply is easier to earn if the first exchange ended with a genuine thank-you. Give it real time between messages, a result needs a few weeks to exist, not a few hours.
Keep the update short, mentors read short specific updates far more often than long ones. Larry says the biggest tell of someone worth mentoring further is that they clearly did something with the first answer.
If nothing has changed since the first reply, wait until something has before you write again. Earn the second reply the same way you earned the first one, by being specific and proving the time was well spent.
Details: Watch Larry on earning the reply
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